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Irelia top still viable?

Ninjari·4/11/2018, 4:54:11 AM·3 votes·2,638 views

sooooo, been trying out the new irelia in all roles and overall i am enjoying her new kit. they kept what was good with her kit and made it match the current theme of the game. My analysis of her rework is this: Jung - fairly effective. in the jung she can roam and be a burst style champ coming in to sway a lane every now and then as well as her easy to use cc allows her to safely jung and take camps. Supp - varies, it really depends on your adc to capitalize on your short cooldown on the stun to pick up kills, building her AP is really a boon for this role. Mid - good performance, her new ranged ability allows her to keep up harassment on the mages and assassins that dominate mid as well as its heavy AP scaling. Given more than half her kit scales with AP building her as an AP burst assassin is pretty effective in mid. Hybrid builds are also pretty good. ADC - not gonna try cause since that is my one weak area i cannot effectively critique it. Finally, our Blade Dancer's home turf, TOP. Top is a lane where two bruisers duke it out over the course of the game. Sustain is a key part of an effective top laner and sadly, almost every ounce of sustain has been taken out of her new kit making lane exceptionally difficult against the biggest top lane champs such as Aatrox, Illaoi, Fiora, Tryndamire, Garen, Renekton, ect... Such champs make it difficult for her to approach and trade with in-lane without the aid of your jung. While it is possible to use the runes to bridge the sustain gap, it is a poor sub for her former sustain kit. Early game she suffers heavily top. My post here is 1 to see if i am perhaps using her new kit wrong and 2 to see if others agree that her role in top is ending unless she gets a substantial buff to her q to keep that sustain. the amount of health you get from it is laughable at early levels. If anyone disagrees with me please correct me.

10 Comments

Rico Nasty4/11/2018, 1:31:59 PM2 votes

Her kit is poorly designed. I like the ideas and I think it could have been done well but it's mostly her W and E, they don't feel cohesive with her kit at all, and are both super high risk and super low reward abilities. I'm going to try her mid soon, hopefully she plays more like Yasuo or something. She is AWFUL as a toplaner and her jungle clear is abysmal.

Ellis Dee4/11/2018, 1:26:12 PM1 votes

feels bad to play her top after nerfs. i think they were a little too heavy handed with it.

Scary Door4/12/2018, 3:01:51 PM1 votes

Finally played a game with the new Irelia last night. I've played around 2,000 Irelia games since season 1, more if you count ARAM. Prior to playing her in a game I went ahead and messed around in the Practice Tool as well.

Her Q is still great, it was my favorite ability on Irelia so no problems there.

EVERY other aspect of her new kit is either weak or just awful to play. I played into a Yasuo (top lane) last night... I've never lost lane to a Yasuo as Irelia, ever, period. I almost did last night, but luckily I had continual help from my jungler, else I absolutely would have been crushed. Her laning phase is egregious, trades are very difficult to pull off because her W and E feel as though they have no real synergy/place in her kit anymore. Sure, her old W was basically "here's some extra damage for ya" and it was a simplistic mechanic, but that's what I liked about Irelia---she had a mix of a minigame (last hitting with Q), simplicity in her W, her E allowed for better trading and her ult was... well, it was just a way to chunk minions so you could dash through a wave at your opponent really.

That brings me to her ult... eh... it's alright, it just doesn't feel all that amazing. If I was even with my laner it would have felt totally underwhelming, but since my jungler babysat me and got me some free kills/assists it was obviously better---as was my experience.

If I had to totally rely on my own Irelia skills (and with no falst modesty I do believe that I was a pretty good Irelia) this new version would have been easily stomped by a fucking Yasuo in lane.

Yet another swing-and-miss by Riot when updating champions. Honestly, what was the last really solid champ update? Sion? Poppy maybe? Most of the others have been either lateral moves or absolute disappointments.